Novamarketing Chiasso Medals Coins India B Mughal Empire India Mughal Empire Jahangir Rupee 1027

# 221Rupee AH 1027 RY 13 JahangirIndia B Mughal Empire
India – Mughal Empire – Jahangir (AH 1014-1037 / AD 1605-1627). Zodiac issue: Taurus (month: Ardibihisht). Rupee AH 1027 RY 13. Mint: Ahmadabad, Silver (ø 19 mm – w. 11.25 g.). Edge: plain. KM 150.5. Brown 1255-7. Lane-Poole 364-5. Whitehead 943. Wright 629-30. Manik n. 47, p. 68. Plant pp. 116-117. Rajgor n. vii, p. 18.

Obverse:
Forepart of Taurus (bull) to right, issuing from clouds, rising sun behind. Year of accession (Sanat julus 13 = Regnal year 13) at bottom. Dotted border.

Reverse:
Persian legend. Names of Jahangir and Akbar (from central line to top: Jahangir Badshah / Akbar Badshah = Jahangir, Emperor, (son of) Akbar, Emperor). Mint name at bottom (Zarb Ahmadabad = struck at Ahmadabad). Date (1027) above the top line in centre. Dotted border.

Note:
Beginning April 1618 (Julian calendar), Jahangir entered in his diary an innovation in coinage - Prior to this, it has been the rule that one side of gold coins my name has been engraved, and on the other side the name of the minting place, the month, and the regnal year. Around this time it occurred to me that instead of the month a figure of the constellation representing the month should be depicted. For example, for the month of Farwardin a figure of Aries could be made, and for the month of Ardibihisht the figure of Taurus, and so on for every month in which a coin was minted one side would bear a picture of the constellation in which the sun rose. This method is peculiarly my own and has never been used before. - Ref.: The Jahangirnama, translated, edited and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Jahangir was at that time residing at Ahmadabad, where his innovation was put immediately in practice and silver rupees with the figure of Aries [month Farwardin 10th March to 11th April (Julian calendar) or 21st March to 22nd April (Gregorian calendar)] were struck.
For the next four months rupees where struck with the figure of Taurus (month: Ardibihisht), Gemini (month: Khurdad), Cancer (month: Tir) and Leo (month: Amardad).
Despite that Jahangir left Ahmadabad on the 21st of Shahrewar (2 September 1618, Julian calendar) for Agra, no rupees with the image of Virgo has ever been traced. Probably because Jahangir appointed his son prince Khuram (future emperor Shah Jahan) a staunch Muslim, as viceroy of the Subah of Gujarat and governor of Ahmadabad. By the orders of the governor and future emperor Shah Jahan, the coining of the Zodiac rupees at Ahmadabad seems to have been forbidden. (extracted from Mr. Lingen's comments on Zeno)

Metallographic analysis:
Ag 98.5 % / Cu 1 % / Pb 0.2 %
(Examination performed using an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDXRF), model Fischersope XAN-FD, on the coin’s surface (ca 100 microns depth) without any mechanical preparation).

Web References:
www.neocollect.com/coll/90/
www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=26430
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahangir

Literature:
Brown C. J. – Catalogue of Coins in the Provincial Museum Lucknow / The Mughal Emperors – Vol. I-II, Oxford, 1920 (reprinted 1985).:
Krause C. and Mishler C. – Standard Catalog of World Coins 1601-1700 – Krause Publications, 3rd Edition, Usa, 2003.
Lane-Poole Stanley – The Coinage of the Moghul Emperors of Hindustan in the British Museum – London, 1892 (reprinted 1983).
Manik Jain – Couplets on Mughal Coins of India – Calcutta, India, 1998.
Plant R. J. – Arab Coins and how to read them – Spink and Son Ltd., London, 1973, 1980 (revised), reprinted 2000.
Rajgor D. – Collector's Guide to Mughal Coins – University of Mumbai, India, 2002.
Whitehead R. B. – Catalogue of Coins in the Panjab Museum, Lahore / The Mughal Emperors – Vol. II, Oxford, 1914 (reprinted 1977).
Wright H. N. – Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta / The Mughal Emperors – Vol. III, Oxford, 1908 (reprinted 1972).